


Calm

by NekoAbi



Series: Experience Pieces [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Human AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 06:37:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16887480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoAbi/pseuds/NekoAbi
Summary: Its a calm evening. Virgil gets introspective. ye.





	Calm

It was a cool night, sometime around 6pm when Virgil flicked the light on in the kitchen. After a quick check of his cupboard and the freezer, he turned on the oven and waited for it to reach the recommended temperature. For once, he foregoes turning on his own music and just leaves his phone in the pocket of his hoodie. Pushing up the sleeves to his elbows, he washed up the plates and cutlery he used the night before.

Virgil’s next move is to grab one of his trays and put out the food. He takes pause and instead grabs his phone out in order to message the group chat of his house. He knew Logan and Roman were in the house. He’d just passed Roman working in the living room and he knew Logan was yet to leave his room that resided right above his head at this moment, but it was just easier to message the group chat.

_You guys eaten yet? Want me to put food on?_

He rewrote the message three times and read it five times before sending. Virgil went back to pulling out a tray, knowing he’d still need to use one of them. His chat notification pinged, and he checked, two messages. Unlocking the phone, the chat window popped up immediately.

_Pretty please! I’d love you forever!_

_I have not. That would be nice._

A third and fourth popped in as he was holding his phone.

_Have I ever told you how wonderful you are??!_

The final message was followed by a gif of Ariel moving forward and nodding enthusiastically. Virgil snorted to himself and pulled out another tray before responding.

_Okay. Should be like 20 minutes. Simple stuff, just nuggets and fries. We have a lot of those._

The phone screen was left lit as he grabbed the frozen food from the freezer. He was pouring out the frozen potatoes when he noticed the chat move from the corner of his eyes.

_Good for me!! Almost home, about 10 min away <3_

A soft smile crossed his face as he filled up both trays with food. Closing the chat, he instead opened the timer and set it for 20 minutes, having it ready.

Soon enough, the light on the oven clicks off and Virgil opens the oven. He grabbed one tray at a time and carefully placed them onto the wire racks, ensuring that he didn’t touch the metal. Once the oven door was closed and the timer was set, he turned and looked around.

He didn’t feel like having to go upstairs and come back down, so he grabbed his phone and perched himself up on the counter in front of the microwave across the room from the oven. It was the easiest part of the counter to get up onto as it was a corner and he could brace himself on either side to get up. His left foot rested on one of the long handles of the drawers to his left, the other resting sideways as his right leg crossed under his body.

Once he was comfortable, Virgil opened tumblr and began to scroll. There were a quiet few minutes where he was lost to the world, but muffled music caught his attention and his gaze lifted up.

His eyes rested on the light that bled through the glass of the living room door, tracing the patterns that were made against the wall in the dark corridor outside. The muffled Disney song flowed softly through the gap as the door barely even shut properly. Virgil could just about make out the words – not that he needed to after he’d heard one or two lines.

The soft music mixed with the small noises of life above his head, the whirring of the fan oven and the wind hitting the window just behind him to create a soundscape that somehow just relaxed Virgil. The calm washed over him, and he felt muscles that he didn’t know were tense fall and relax. His eyes glanced over the room, taking in all the details that he’d seen over and over for the past two years. The archway that led out to the hallway was just slightly misshapen from when decorators had clearly not cared, the slight discolouration of the tiles that decorated the lower half of the walls above the counter tops, the wonky pipe that ran close to the ceiling above the stove top and up into the floor above. All the small details that someone wouldn’t notice immediately. The fact all these things never changed, it added to his calm. The song had changed at some point and Virgil could recognise Moana. He smiled softly and began mouthing the words as he returned to his phone, continuing his trail down tumblr.

It felt like no time at all had passed when the sound of the front door unlocking and opening made Virgil jump. His heart rate quickened ever so slightly from the sudden intrusion to the calm atmosphere, even though he knew who it was. On instinct, he threw a simple greeting out – only to be accompanied by two other voices.

“Welcome home!”

“I’m back!

“Hey.”

Soft laughter floated down towards where he sat in the kitchen and Virgil found himself smiling at the noise. It didn’t falter as Patton came into view, stepping into the small square that acted as the barrier between the main hallway and the entrance to the kitchen. Once their gazes met, Virgil raised a hand in greeting and Patton’s smile extended.

There was no conversation just yet, as Virgil turned his head back down to his phone, watching out of the corner of his eye as his housemate take off his jacket and scarf and hanging them on the temporary hooks that were on the closet door. Virgil’s right leg now dropped down to hang freely, knowing that he’d get some kind of reprimand for putting his feet up on the counters again. The new additions of slightly heavy breathing and rustling clothing added to the soundscape, changing the mood so it felt homelier. Or maybe that was just Patton’s presence in the house. Virgil couldn’t quite tell.

As Patton entered the kitchen with another broad smile, noises above made Virgil’s gaze lift upwards.

“Sounds like he’s considering coming down.”

Patton laughed a little, reaching over the various spices and dirty dishes that littered the side next to the oven and hob in order to reach a glass, which he then filled with water.

Polite conversation filled the space, mostly Patton talking about his day between gulps of water. Virgil only joined in to ensure his friend that he was listening, even though he was still scrolling through his phone. As the pair laughed together at nothing in particular, the sound of a door opening upstairs brought both their attentions to the archway of the kitchen. They then shared a smile before Patton directed his voice out into the hallway.

“Nice of you to join us!”

The footsteps down the stairs were accompanied by an amused noise, which caused the pair in the kitchen to smile at each other wider.

“It would be stupid of me to not come down. If I am correct, it should be around 7 minutes until food is finished.”

Virgil flicked over to the timer to check before responding.

“You would, indeed, be correct.”

Logan’s gaze when he rounded into the archway was one that could only be described as ‘done’. Virgil’s smile cracked even wider as both he and Patton began laughing. Before Logan could even respond, Roman called from the other room, calling out to Logan with one of his many nicknames and making some form of a reference to Logan keeping himself shut away in his room all day. He insisted Logan come and - in his words - ‘ensure his writing was still as good as ever’.

Logan sighed and moved towards the living room, an amused glint in his eyes beneath the façade of frustration he put up.

“Roman, I have told you multiple times, stop calling me that. Just because I…”

His voice muffled as the door shut behind him, leaving Patton and Virgil alone again in the kitchen, both in a different state of amusement. The conversation had died between them. It was instead left with a comfortable semi-silence, with the ambient noises filling in the gap. Virgil once again returned to his phone and Patton busied himself by getting out plates and cutlery in preparation. When Virgil noticed, he went to speak but was cut off as his housemate said that he wanted to help do something. Again, they felt no need to speak after their interaction.

Instead, they worked in unison. Virgil crossed both his legs on the counter as Patton went to open the cupboard to his right and pulled out four plates, setting them out on the separated counter space under the cupboards. His legs stayed there until his housemate returned and pulled out all the cutlery from the top drawer to his left.

While the muffled music and light noises from above had left, the sounds of cutlery being placed onto the plates and the footsteps of shoes on the floor of the kitchen melded in with the new muffled voices to create a brand-new soundscape. This one offered feelings of safety. The feeling bubbled up inside, filling Virgil’s body with a newfound warmth. He revelled in this for a moment, before his phone vibrated and began to blare with the alarm.

Virgil hopped down off of the counter. Patton was already there with the oven gloves, taking the trays out, one after the other. Soon enough, all the plates were filled, and the trays left to soak in the sink. Each of them took two plates each and made their way out of the kitchen. Patton left first as Virgil paused for a moment, as he waited for the light to change in the hallway with the door opening. As quick as he could, he used the tip of his nose to flick the light switch in the kitchen off and entered the living room.

His eyes fell across the two sofas as soon as he entered. Directly in front of him on one sat Roman and Logan, the shorter yet wider table of the two resting in front of them. Roman was looking over Logan’s shoulder at his laptop, which rested in the other’s lap. Patton was just placing the two places he’d taken on the table in front of them. Virgil moved to the sofa to his right, setting one of the plates down on the high table that sat in front of the closet seat to the door.

“Where are you sitting, kiddo?”

Virgil gestured for Patton to sit in the space behind the table.

“I’ll just eat off my lap, it’s fine.”

Both shared another smile before Patton hopped over the arm of the sofa and settled down into the space. Virgil had to set down his plate onto the floor in order to move the large pile of cushions and blankets into the space between the end of the sofa and the far wall, before he sat down and picked up the final plate, beginning to eat.

The sounds were all so different to before. It was filled with small noises of food being bitten down on to create smaller bites, small shuffles as someone attempted to get more comfortable, Roman and Logan continued to discuss his work with Roman’s laptop now perched on the arm next to Logan.

Virgil watched each of them. Watching how Logan’s eyes darted from the plate and back to the screen, making sure he didn’t lose his place. Noticing how Roman attempted to keep some distance so as not to crowd his friend but still trying to see what edits were being made, if any. Catching the way Patton’s lips curled up into a smile as both Logan and Roman continued talking about his work. He noticed the smallest of details of his friends, attempting to burn them into his mind. He knew it was only a few months until they’d all part ways, but he wanted to remember all of these simple moments. He knew he’d missed a good portion of their time together, and he still felt a little awkward every now and then when he remembered.

He must have been showing some of his discomfort as a hand came and rested on his shoulder, bringing Virgil back into the real world.

“You okay?”

Virgil looked at Patton and then across to the others. All three of them stared at him, concern clear as day on all their faces. It made him smile, and he nodded.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

The room went back to its previous state. Small bits of conversation were held between all four of them now, as the others attempted to bring Virgil into the group a little more. His smile widened ever so slightly at the thought, and he felt calm. He felt cared for. He felt at home.


End file.
